Sunday, 27 December 2015

Sunday Summary | Sherry, Baby?

Hello to you, my lovely FOQ.

I hope this little missive finds you well. I won't make the blase assumption that all your Christmases were white/fine and dandy/the epitome of every hazy 1940s film made on the subject because, let's face it, life ain't like that.

But I hope you found some pockets of contentment along the way, you glorious people, you.

Apologies due to you all, by the way. I promised gifs aplenty in my late-running (clearly operated by Govia/Southern) post on Wednesday and delivered pitiful few.

So I'm making up for it in this post.

Ohhhh yeah.

This Chrimbly week, I have mostly been ...

EATING EVERYTHING IN MY SIGHT

Also ...

Reading

(and finishing)

Alun, if you're reading this, have a lil' scroll down. I know you're not into my book rants! ;-)

Well.

I really wanted to enjoy this book (Louise O'Neill was a great speaker back in August) but, as I hinted previously, it's not my favourite read of the year, by a long shot. (It's on a par with The Girl on the Train, let's put it that way.)

If you're into, and actually appreciate all the references to, contemporary actresses and supermodels, and Keeping Up with the feckin' Kardashians (what a waste of airtime they are, seriously -- I can barely even bring myself to find a gif to represent how much I don't care about them ...):

{Oh wait, look, I just did. #womanofsubstance}

and if you don't mind all the unsubtle 'fat-shaming' and continual, obsessive observations about the skinniness of the characters (the author professed to having an eating disorder in her younger years -- there should probably be a trigger warning at the beginning of this novel), then by all means, this is the book for you.

Otherwise, save yourself the self-hatred and read The Handmaid's Tale.

It's just so much better, and more original than OEY could ever aspire to be. Miaow.

I'm now reading:

which is a little like Judy Blume's Letters to Judy, but for grown-ups, and with Cheryl Strayed offering nuggets of her own colourful life story in exchange to requests for advice. (Which strikes me as a little 'never mind your problems, it's all about me' but hey!)

Watching (all the things, for it is Christmas ...)

Santa Claus: The Movie

on Christmas Eve.

Because, Dudley Moore.

And John Lithgow.

And the quintessential 1980s-ness of the whole film. Which is a good thing.

This was followed up with the Christmas Eve staple:

The Snowman

and chased up with the almost inevitable -- and wondrous -- Elf

Oh and then there was ...

Moondial (my new Christmas DVD!)

It's still pretty creepy but watching it as an adult means being able to see small plot holes that we didn't notice in the 80s.

***POINTLESS SPOILER ALERT***

Such as, why can all the spooky children in Sarah's time see Minty, but the other kitchen boy in Tom's time can't, and neither can any of the ghost adults?! Riddle me that! Eh? Eh?
Still, it's a great watch, and I'm grateful to Ms Jessica for prompting me to ask for this little treat and thus dive back in to a heady sea of nostalgia.

Also ... And Then There Were None(a rather sinister adaptation of an Agatha Christie novel that went by a very controversial title ...)

Oh and I somehow even had time to take in the very entertaining:Shaun the Sheep: The Farmer's Llamas.

You cannae go wrong with a STS special.

Especially when it involves lllllllllamaaaaaas!

In other news, well, I've just been ...

Doing Christmas

... which at Ma and Pa QB Heights looks a little bit like this:

{Camel cookies!}

{Drinks at friend Jan's in her magical Christmassy 'grotto'}

{Tired-face selfie with an elfie ...}

{O Christmas Tree! | (the big family one)}

{O Christmas Tree! | (the little QB one)}

{Cabin fever, QB-style!}

{Christmas flamingo #1 | Meet Prickles!}

{Christmas flamingos #2 and #3 | !!!}

{Christmas dinner table}

{The staple!}

{PUD!}

{... Uhmm ...}

I've also managed to catch up with friends and family -- special shout-outs to Justine, and to Tim and Conor (we missed our annual Caffe Nero meet-up last year so 'twas lovely to make up for it this year) -- and it's been mighty gorgeous to see everyone.

I've missed lil' Sis, though: I hope to resume our annual Christmas bickering on Monday when she rocks up for 'Christmas II'. :)